Alabama 827 articles

Burn injuries and amputations are a couple occupational hazards that no workers should face in the workplace, yet two employees of a Pike County, Alabama food producer were hospitalized within a week of each other after being injured in separate accidents. In a Nov. 23 announcement, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said the workplace accidents occurred in the facilities of Southern Classic Food Group LLC. The Brundidge-based manufacturer produces a line of dressings, sauces, confections, beverages, and other products, including Dreamland “Bar-B-Que” sauce and Dale’s marinade. According to OSHA, on Thurs., Aug. 2, one employee suffered burn ... Read More

BP oil spill funds intended to aid in the recovery of the Gulf Coast are ready to be invested in Alabama, Governor Kay Ivey said in an announcement Monday. According to Gov. Ivey, the U.S. Treasury Department has approved Alabama’s plan to invest the funds. The $192.4 million injection of cash will be dispersed among 15 projects proposed by Alabama’s Multiyear Implementation Plan for Gulf Coast Recovery developed by the Alabama Gulf Coast Recovery Council. All of the projects proposed by the AGCR are located in Mobile and Baldwin Counties, which together form Alabama’s entire section of Gulf Coast. The ... Read More

The pilot of a Columbus, Georgia law enforcement helicopter that crashed into an Alabama lake Friday, Nov. 16 was identified as David Hall, a recently retired Columbus Police Department officer and part-time reserve pilot. Mr. Hall, 53, and an unidentified passenger, were killed when the Columbus Metro Narcotics Task Force helicopter they were flying in crashed in Lake Mitchell, a section of the Coosa River in Chilton County, Alabama. Authorities said Mr. Hall and the passenger were on their way to Clanton, Alabama, from Columbus, to swap the Bell OH-58 helicopter for another helicopter that had already undergone routine maintenance ... Read More

A half dozen veterans’ groups representing nearly 5 million members asked the Department of Veterans Affairs to improve the care at its nursing homes after an investigative report by USA TODAY and the Boston Globe revealed “blatant disregard for veteran safety” at a VA nursing home in Massachusetts. A whistleblower had alerted officials of about possible signs of nursing home neglect at the Brockton VA facility, such as bedside urinals left unemptied and patients being regularly left unchecked. The home knew health officials would be following up on those claims by inspecting the facility for potential signs of neglect. But ... Read More

Weatherford, Texas-based Legend Directional Services LLC was cited by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and faces a more than $28,000 penalty, for violations of worker safety at the company’s Harpersville Reinforcement Project in Harpersville, Alabama, that resulted in a May 2018 explosion during which a worker was killed. OSHA investigators determined that the explosion occurred because flammable welding gases were stored in an unventilated storage container at the facility. When the now-deceased employee opened the container door, the container exploded. OSHA cited the drilling company for storing compressed welding gas containers and liquefied petroleum ... Read More

Alabama resident Shirley Sanders, on behalf of the estate of her late husband Mac Arthur Sanders, filed a lawsuit against nearly two dozen manufacturers in St. Clair County Circuit Court in Illinois, alleging products manufactured by the companies contained cancer causing asbestos and contributed to her husband’s lung cancer diagnosis. The lawsuit names, in part, Air & Liquid Systems Corporation, Goulds Pumps Inc., and Lamons Gasket Company, companies that manufactured products Mac Arthur Sanders worked with. Shirley Sanders claims that microscopic asbestos fibers emanated from some of the products manufactured by the companies. Those airborne fibers were inhaled or ingested ... Read More

A horrific tractor-trailer crash on U.S. 280 in central Alabama killed Auburn football superfan Tammy Renae Bullard and her 2-year-old granddaughter Friday, Nov. 16. Ms. Bullard, a fervent Auburn fan and regular caller to the Paul Finebaum show on ESPN Radio, is known to many listeners as Tammy from Clanton. According to AL.com, Ms. Bullard was traveling westbound on U.S. 280 between Sylacauga and Childersburg when a tractor-trailer traveling in the eastbound lanes veered into oncoming traffic. Alabama State Trooper Cpl. Jimmy Harrell told AL.com that the tractor-trailer was hauling some kind of explosive material, prompting authorities to evacuate all ... Read More

A family aboard a Carnival Cruise ship that allegedly found a camera hidden in their stateroom is considering filing a lawsuit against the cruise line for not taking the matter seriously enough or even offering an apology. “We weren’t trying to get anything out of it. We weren’t expecting a free cruise or money,” Chris White told Fox News. “My concern is that there is video of (my son) online now. And I’ll never know.” White and his family were on a five-day Carnival Voyage cruise from Mobile, Alabama to Mexico when on day two he suffered an allergy attack. Assuming ... Read More

The number of people sickened by Gravel Ridge Farm eggs contaminated with Salmonella has increased to 44, but the outbreak appears over, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced. On Sept. 5, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industry inspected Gravel Ridge Farms in Cullman, Alabama, after receiving information to suggest eggs from the farm were the source of reported cases of Salmonella infections. Investigators found that environment and egg samples taken from the farm were genetically related to isolates from people who had become ill. Twenty-six of 32 people interviewed ... Read More

AmerisourceBergen Corp. and four subsidiary companies will pay $625 million to settle allegations that they ran a profiteering scheme that involved buying sterile vials of drugs from manufacturers, breaking them open, pooling the contents, and then repackaging them into pre-filled syringes. AmerisourceBergen, a drug wholesaler that ranks number 11 on the Fortune 500 list, provided the illegally repackaged drugs to physicians treating cancer patients, the U.S. Department of Justice said in its announcement of the settlement. Federal prosecutors alleged that AmerisourceBergen profited by skimming drug overfill from the FDA-approved sterile vials and repacking them into pre-filled syringes. They said the ... Read More